1. Technical Field
The inventions generally relate to semiconductor quantum well devices and methods of fabricating and utilizing such devices.
2. Discussion of Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may be helpful to facilitating a better understanding of the inventions. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Various types of quantum well devices have been developed. Various planar quantum well devices include a semiconductor well layer and a semiconductor barrier layer on each side of the well layer. The semiconductor barrier layers confine mobile charge carriers, i.e., electrons or holes, to a two-dimensional (2D) layer. The confinement typically results, because the semiconductor well layer has a narrower band gap than the semiconductor barrier layers. For that reason, the conduction band may have a lower bottom edge in the semiconductor well layer and/or the valence band may have a higher upper edge in the semiconductor well layer. The band edge discontinuities can function as barriers that substantially confine the mobile charge carriers to the planar regions of the quantum wells.